How Life Threatening is Riding On a Motorcycle?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So our next door neighbor is a 40ish single mom who has reentered the world of dating. She met a seemingly responsible guy online who appears to be about the same age who arrived to their date driving a motorcycle. At some point on the date he offered to take her on a ride. He had an extra helmet available for a passenger to wear. Reportedly, her response was “no thanks, I prefer to stay alive.”

I mentioned the guy was ‘seemingly responsible’ and by that I mean was not wearing a Hells Angels leather jacket and was not covered with swastika tattoos. I understand the guy does some sort of work for a radio station, but don’t know anything else about him.

My question is, does riding on the back of a motorcycle seem like an inherently life threatening activity? Admittedly, motorcycles are less safe to travel on than cars, but does her reaction seem disproportionate to the level of threat?

2

Riding on a motorcycle is perfectly safe. It’s the falling off and hitting the ground where it gets dicey.

3

does her reaction seem disproportionate to the level of threat?

Regardless of the actual numbers it does not appear disproportionate. We all get to decide what level of risk (and kinds of risk) we are comfortable with, it is an emotional decision ultimately not a logical decision (whatever we may tell ourselves), so its not for anyone else to say whether our reaction to risk ‘disproportionate’.

As for the actual stats, the act of riding once on the back of a motorcycle is not particularly risky (though still riskier than never riding on the back of a motorcycle), but habitually riding a motorcycle is (and presumably if you are dating someone you are going to be traveling on the back of their bike quite a lot). This page lists 30 deaths per 100 million miles traveled and 500 injuries. So by my maths if you travel 100,000 miles on your bike in total, there is a 3% chance that bike will kill you and 50% percent chance it will injure you! .

4

I’ve tried riding on the backs of two motorcycles. I have too much of a bike rider’s habit of leaning into curves, so both times, the motorcycles fell over. So no, not for me.

5

I owned and rode four motorcycles over the course of about 25 years. I rode in all weather, and although I don’t have my records at hand, I believe I totalled about 200,000 miles over that time. I came off of them three times, once with a passenger (who was uninjured), and my worst injury was a broken collarbone, ironically in the lowest-speed incident.

That said, I don’t think your friend over-reacted. There were probably several factors at play, perhaps the most significant being that he was a complete stranger. It could be that if she had known him well, how responsible he is, what his experience level with bikes is, how he treats women generally, etc., she would have hopped on the back and said, “Let’s go!”

Or she may have known someone who was seriously injured on a motorcycle.

Or she may be very risk averse and unwilling to ride under any circumstances.

Any of these would be valid reasons for declining to go for a ride.

During my riding career, I took many people for rides, including my 75-year-old grandmother. But there were some who didn’t want to ride, and that was their prerogative. I got married 12 years ago, long after I sold my last bike, but based on everything my wife has said about them, I don’t think she would have wanted to ride with me, and if she had, it would have been with great reluctance.

So don’t think any less of your friend just because she didn’t care to do something that may seem like fun to you.

6

When I was still in high school, maybe 17, a friend from school had borrowed his dad’s Harley and came by asking if I anted to go for a ride. My dad very much did not like the idea at all, and made himself very clear about it. But being a know-it-all 17 yo, I got on the back of the cycle anyway. As we were taking off, my friend said, “your dad’s pretty overprotective, isn’t he?” I scornfully agreed.

He got on the highway and took the bike to 100mph. It occurred to me that if we wiped out at that speed there would not be an open casket. I realized maybe, just maybe, my dad was not being too overprotective. Fortunately I got back safely and don’t think I’ve ever been on a motorcycle again.

7

I’m pretty sure that it’s not usually the biker who is the problem, but rather car drivers who don’t watch for motorcycles (or bikes, for that matter). Two-wheelers are not easily seen, even when they’re large and have lights on, and car drivers don’t usually automatically look for them like they do for cars. In a car-bike collision, the latter is going to be way more likely to suffer catastrophic injury.

8

My sister married a biker who had a lot of biker friends. They couldn’t think of anyone who hadn’t come off their bike at some point, and had at least two friends who had been killed on their bikes.

She’s a single Mum, let her decide the risks in life she wants to take. I suspect this example falls into the ‘just not worth it’ bracket.

I personally wouldn’t want to ride on the back of someone’s bike, basically because I’m a scaredy passenger. I’m the same in cars, so I always drive. Maybe she’s like me.

9

Our friend is generally rather risk-averse. No one questions the fact that it’s entirely her choice whether or not it’s okay to get on the back of a motorcycle. I understand (to her teenage son’s knowledge) she’s never even rode on one before. I guess the vehemence of her response - No thanks I prefer to stay alive - more than anything struck me as an overreaction in this situation.

10

I own several motorcycles, and a lot of people I know ride motorcycles. Most of them are safe and responsible. If the motorcycle driver is responsible, then the level of threat isn’t as high as the neighbor in the OP thinks.

That said, if someone didn’t want to ride on the back of my bike, I wouldn’t be offended. Mrs. Geek has no desire to get on the back of a motorcycle. No biggie.

Some people think that motorcycles are death machines and that no sane person should ever ride one. They aren’t anywhere near that dangerous. Is the OP’s neighbor overreacting? A bit, but like I said, no biggie. You probably aren’t going to change their opinion no matter what you say.

This is the big one. Car drivers are usually looking for cars, and a motorcycle isn’t a car. I’ve had people look right at me at an intersection, and then proceed to completely ignore me and cut me off. I have also had people try to merge into me, not realizing I was there. As a motorcyclist, you almost have to be completely paranoid and assume that everyone on the road is out to get you. Paranoid or not, that kind of attitude can save your life.

Um… you’re supposed to lean into curves. How much were you leaning?

If you are riding on the back of the motorcycle, you should do these:

Lean into curves. Lean roughly as much as the motorcycle leans, which will be roughly as much as the driver leans. If the driver is taking turns so fast and leaning so much that their knee nearly hits the ground, you probably don’t want to be riding on the back of their bike. Carrying a passenger and racing around a track are two completely different things and should never be combined.

Keep your feet on the pegs, even when the motorcycle stops. The driver should tell you where to put your feet and what to avoid. The exhaust pipes get very, very hot. Also, make sure you don’t have long shoe laces that are dangling and might get caught in the chain/belt/shaft (whatever drives the rear wheel). A typical bike will have the chain/belt/whatever on the left and the exhaust pipes on the right, but some bikes have exhaust pipes on both sides.

The motorcycle might have a strap across the seat for the passenger to hang onto. Don’t use it. Hang on to the driver, not the strap. If you don’t want to put your arms around the driver, tough noogies. That’s what you need to do, whether you want to or not.

Don’t hang on to the driver’s arms. He/she needs those to be free to control the bike.

Wear a helmet. If they give you a full-face helmet to wear, that’s a good thing. Hitting a large bug with your face at 65 mph hurts. If they give you an open face helmet, make sure they also give you eye protection. Ideally you should also have a nice thick leather jacket and gloves. The chance of crashing is very small (assuming a responsible driver) but in the unlikely event that you do crash, the more leather you have the less skin you lose.

If the driver just tosses you a helmet and doesn’t tell you where to put your feet, how to lean, etc., that’s a bad sign.

11

And for what it’s worth, a Geek on a bike (Mrs. Geek is holding my helmet so she could take the pic - I don’t ride without one):

12

This is all so good, e_c_g.

I’ll add that the statistical answer to the OP question is, it’s around 35 times more deadly, per mile traveled, to ride a motorcycle vs drive a car. Riding motorcycles is just plain dumb, and I’ve been doing it for 50 of my 59 years.

13

Wow, that bike looks almost identical to the one he drove up to her place with. It was a Harley with the same seat configuration and was even the same blue color.

14

Was the guy wearing a helmet? Did you get a good look at his face? Was it, perhaps, ECG?

15

And does Mrs. Geek know?

16

I know it does not prove anything, but I know a woman who was riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by a man she had just met. They became involved in a serious accident - the driver of the bike she was on was at fault - and she spent weeks in the hospital, months in rehab, and lost a leg as a result.

mmm

17

My brother had a motorcycle when he was 20. He hit a deer when he was going ~55 mph. He ended up off the road a good distance with the bike pining him down. At some point a good samaritan saw him, stopped, lifted the bike off of him, helped him stand, then drove him home (he declined an ambulance).

He was pretty beat up, coughing up blood, but refused medical attention. He eventually recovered. He never rode a motorcycle again. His helmet got banged up pretty good, he probably wouldn’t have survived it.

18

nm. E_C_G covered it :wink:

19

When I was (much) younger, I was a rider on a back of a friend’s motorcycle. I was really uncomfortable, and according to said friend, it made things a lot more risky, because I was holding myself superstiff, which apparently made the bike harder control since I wasn’t cooperating with the lean.

Having said that, my wife likes motorcycles, and took a riding class and got the endorsement, since we had a few friends who were riders. But never enough to buy a bike, and if she had, I would probably have ridden with her just enough to show my willingness and begged off as much as possible.

So for the OP’s friend, I think they could have (probably should have) put it better, but a solid “no thank you, it makes me feel unsafe.” is fully reasonable and rational.

ETA - another anecdote, but a co-worker from around 15 years ago managed to kill herself during a motorcycle training course. She apparently panicked while driving and gunned it straight into a concrete wall, accelerating all the way. She shattered her helmet and was in a coma for about 48 hours prior to death.

20

Her comment “no thanks, I prefer to stay alive.” may have been a little OTT, but in my opinion, to turn up on a first date on an unexpected motorbike is even worse.

First dates are tricky enough on both sides. To add in a bike is pushing the acceptable limit. He should have arrived in a taxi (assuming he only has two-wheeled transport) and broached the subject of future transportation while on the date.